So, unless you’re under a rock or living on a pole, you must know that the US automobile industry is in a shambles. What’s their sin? Simple: they got used to the idea of being at or near the top of the list of the world’s automakers and thought they could coast.
Guess what? The US steel industry did the same thing 30 years ago…how’d that turn out? Looks the same to me.
Now, there’s talk of a Chinese company buying Hummer (Chrysler’s already heading over to Europe to be Fiat’s bitch). What the fuck? It’s the 80′s all over again as foreign companies are coming in and picking at the bones of the dead or dying US companies that couldn’t stay at the top of their game. For years, people have been saying the US automakers need to innovate and work on improving fuel-effiency (not to mention design…with a handful of exceptions, American cars have been boring as hell, especially mid-range cars that more people are likely to buy).
Take Hummer. Big bulky cars with tiny drivers (I kid you not…imagine a hulking H2 with a little dainty 5’2″ woman with a flowery hat driving down the street…I’ve seen it) that burned through gas like a fat kid through a slushie. Meanwhile, there’s this guy. He retrofits Hummers and makes them sip fuel like a Prius while still keeping their power.
Why is it so hard for large companies with tons of revenue to stop looking at next quarter’s results and instead look at next year’s results? Why can’t they just show a little backbone and say, “Uh, shareholders, no, wait, large institutional fund investors, why don’t you go play hide and go fuck yourselves for a little so we can make this the best damned carmaker in the world?” I mean, you’ve got a lot of shares in GM or something (and I really don’t care about those large institutional investors that are really screwing up public companies like GM)…so I’m assuming you want the company to succeed. Well, guess what? Every time a company stops investing in R&D, innovation, or other LEGAL methods of staying ahead of the competitive curve, they die or otherwise fuck up.
Remember the US steel industry? You know we used to have one, right? Well, we still do but they aren’t the best in the world any more. They got fucked by cheaper rivals in other countries and the newer US companies that got smart and started recycling scrap instead of griding ore out of the ground.
Maytag? The reliable appliance company hired a new CEO…who didn’t make it very far but along with his successor cut all sorts of costs which included R&D. It’s funny that they say he was all about innovation…funny because the company didn’t show it. This was around 2000. They got bought by Whirlpool in 2006.
Dell did a great job of innovating to get them to the top of the PC business…but then they stopped…and everyone else caught up.
I know it’s not easy to innovate all the time as an individual but that’s why you hire people. The successful companies figure out a formula but also figure out how to stay ahead of the competition by doing something new or doing something better. Look at Apple. They aren’t exactly a new company but they’re going strong. They don’t even own that large a share of the PC market. Still, everyone knows who they are, they’re profitable, and they’re still innovating.
C’mon now…someone out there needs to get off their ass and start making things happen in the auto industry. Or else we’ll be back to Yugos and other lame imported shit.